I wanted to say thank you, at least for the two articles of yours I have read so far. I have been raised in what I would presume would be considered a “moderate” congregation of the church. I have some family members that attend a more “conservative” congregation. For the record, I have a hard time using those phrases as I think common use of them creates division, not unity.<\/p>\n
I am currently studying deeply about two of the most common issues that cause problems: church finances and eating. While I find it somewhat embarrassing that the church is divided over eating, I don’t find it surprising given it was happening in the first century. I have been searching for articles from both viewpoints for uses of scripture and illustrations and find it very tedious as most authors on both sides use far-reaching analogies to support their viewpoints and Scriptures that I feel might need to be bent pretty hard to fit the point. However, so far, I have found your points on the matters to be concise, plausible, and substantiated with Scriptures that do not need to be stretched to fit. The analogies you use are not hyperbole, creating annoyances for the listener, they are practical and within the lines of the point. While I don’t agree with every point I have read, I can honestly say I am seeing some things that need to be seriously evaluated and likely changed in the congregation I attend.<\/p>\n
Thank you for posting these articles and sermons. I look forward to reading some more.<\/p>\n\t
I’m glad you found the articles and sermons useful in your studies. Even better, I’m happy to hear that they gave you points to think about.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I wanted to say thank you, at least for the two articles of yours I have read so far. I have been raised in what I would presume would be considered a “moderate” congregation of the church. I have some family members that attend a more “conservative” congregation. For the record, I have a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[127,151,1508,192],"class_list":["post-52969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-about-this-site","tag-eating-in-the-building","tag-institutionalism","tag-liberalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55833,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-church-come-together-for-a-common-meal-in-acts-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":52969,"position":0},"title":"Did the Church Come Together for a Common Meal in Acts 20?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin A question has been asked about 'eating' in Acts 20:6-11: \"And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-corinthian-1133-allow-fellowship-meals-at-the-church-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":52969,"position":1},"title":"Does I Corinthian 11:33 allow fellowship meals at the church building?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother in Christ, \u00a0 I read your answer to Why is eating in the building an issue?\u00a0concerning eating in the building and have a few questions. \u00a0 First, you quote I Corinthians 11:17-22 where Paul is remonstrating the Corinthians for leaving some hungry and for some getting drunk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship-halls-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":52969,"position":2},"title":"Fellowship Halls (Longhenry)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry It has become popular among many religious organizations and denominational churches to build and maintain a facility as part of their property which is used to facilitate the sharing of meals. Sometimes such facilities are considered a \"multipurpose area\" that might be used for meals, meetings,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-in-fellowship-with-the-authors-of-the-articles-on-your-web-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":52969,"position":3},"title":"Are you in fellowship with the authors of the articles on your web site?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is Brian A. Yeager, the author of one of the articles on your web site\u00a0a sound teacher? I have looked at\u00a0his web site\u00a0and it does not seem that he or the congregation he is with agrees with anything. They don't fellowship with anybody. Does this person fellowship you and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-hall-used-by-a-church-for-worship-also-be-rented-for-a-potluck-by-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":52969,"position":4},"title":"Can a hall used by a church for worship also be rented for a potluck by members?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our congregation meets in a rented hall. Would it be wrong to make use of the facilities available for a potluck gathering? I understand that the church doesn't have authority to own a kitchen, but I was wondering why we couldn't rent the facility where we happen to meet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61320,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-buildings-assembly-halls-and-fellowship-halls\/","url_meta":{"origin":52969,"position":5},"title":"Notes on Buildings, Assembly Halls, and Fellowship Halls","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Assemblies The church is commanded to come together for the purpose of worship and encouragement - I Corinthians 11:18, 20, 33; Hebrews 10:25 The purpose of coming together as a church is specifically separated from eating meals - I Corinthians 11:22, 34 Fellowship Fellowship is a state of being. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}